PhotoCredit: TheClimb
I'll never forget my first camping trip. How much fun it was and also how damn grateful I was to have running water once I returned home. It lasts a couple of days, and then, I'm back to taking my life for granted.
It's been almost two years of realizing we took a lot for granted. I never truly appreciated my yoga studio, coffee shop, shopping generally, feeling safe and travel. I certainly didn't appreciate how much it meant to be able to hug a friend without thinking twice about it.
Yesterday I had a new appreciation. My education. I was one of those people that loved school. Loved studying, learning, books and even stationery. It never occurred to me that I might have been fortunate to have that education. It never really occurred to me that I was lucky to have any education. I didn't really give it much thought. It was like running water to me. It was always there.
We know this is not true of all children. One of the charities we support donates bicycles to young women in Africa to help them traverse their long journeys to school. They are one of the smartest operations I know - and do incredible work: World Bicycle Relief. Another non-public charity we support provides safe schooling facilities in poor villages; the vulnerability of children as they attempt to get to school is horrifying. And yesterday I was moved to tears watching this Ted Talk about a young woman determined that Afghan girls get an education. I now support her charity SOLA.
My love of school has clearly had a bigger impact than I appreciated.
We all give in different ways. Maybe some of you will be moved to make a donation to World Bicycle Relief or SOLA. Maybe this will prompt you to donate to one of your favorite charities. Or maybe you will watch Shabana Basij-Rasikh's Ted Talk, please do, and be reminded that we all have mountains to climb. Some seem steeper than other's. Some are steeper than others. They are all scalable. Keep climbing.
"When you face the uncertainty of what might be - you can turn it into the certainty of what will be." - Shabana Basij-Rasikh